Habeas Corpus

Justice & Democracy

NEWS / NOTICIAS

2010

January / Enero

SOS Haiti Quake may have killed 50,000 people.
‘You will not be forsaken,’ Obama says:
The death toll from Haiti's earthquake could be between 45,000 and 50,000, with a further three million people hurt or homeless, a senior Haitian Red Cross official said on Thursday.
"No one knows with precision, no one can confirm a figure. Our organization thinks between 45,000 and 50,000 people have died. We also think there are 3 million people affected throughout the country, either injured or homeless," Victor Jackson, an assistant national coordinator with Haiti's Red Cross said.
Haitians struggled frantically to save those injured in the earthquake as desperately needed aid from around the world began arriving. Planes carrying teams from China, France and Spain landed at Port-au-Prince's airport with searchers and tons of food, medicine and other supplies — with more promised from around the globe.
It took six hours to unload a Chinese plane because the airport lacked the needed equipment — a hint of possible bottlenecks ahead as a global response brings a stream of relief flights to the airport, itself damaged by Tuesday's magnitude-7 earthquake.
The influx of aid had yet to reach shellshocked Haitians who silently wandered the broken streets of Port-au-Prince, searching desperately for water, food and medical help.
"Money is worth nothing right now, water is the currency," one foreign aid-worker told Reuters. ...more in MSNBC - France 24 - El Mundo - El País - The Guardian - Al JazeeraHELP THE VICTIMS: Christian Aid - Oxfam - Red Cross - God's littlest Angels [Haiti] - Save the Children - Disaster Emergency Committee

Un año después de la masacre perpretada por Israel en Palestina ::
'A girl called Jewel': Just days into Israel's "war" on Gaza, in early January, the extended Al Samouni family, some 48 men, women and children, was attacked in the homes they occupied together in the south of Gaza - and almost all of them were killed. Thirteen-year-old Almaza - 'jewel' - is one of the very few who survived the attack in which 30 members of her family died, many before her own eyes. A Girl Called Jewel is Almaza's story, a heart-breaking eye-witness account of the war in Gaza. ...click on the screens to watch the documentary by Witness, Al Jazeera

2009

December / December

Free citizens from all over the word outraged at China dictatorship´s sentence against brave Liu Xiaobo:

British Parliament tables motion in support of Aminatou Haidar who is dying because of Spain and Marocco alliance of Barbary against Western Sahara:

A cross-party group of British MP’s today tabled a Motion in Parliament expressing “dismay” at the expulsion of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amainatou Haidar from Western Sahara. The Motion signed by parliamentarians from all three main political parties states that “this House condemns the escalating wave of human rights violations against Saharawi human rights activists..[and] is dismayed over the expulsion of prominent Saharawi human rights activist and winner of the 2009 Civil Courage Award Aminatou Haidar from Western Sahara.” Known has the "African Gandhi", Haidar had her passport confiscated by Moroccan authorities on her return from a trip abroad on 14th November. She was deported in unlawfully to the Canary Island of Lanzarote where she has been on hunger strike in the airport terminal for over two weeks.

...Expelled from her homeland and weak from a hunger strike, the last thing award-winning Sahrawi independence activist Aminatou Haidar needs right now is a €180 fine.
But that's what a Spanish court has ordered her to pay for disturbing the peace at the Lanzarote airport in the Canary Islands, where the woman known as the Gandhi of the Western Sahara has camped since 16 November, refusing to eat anything but sugar water in protest at what she sees as her forced exile by Morocco.
The court fine came after Aena, the company that runs the airport, filed a complaint in a local Arrecife court, which on Monday issued a "minimal" €180 (£160) fine on the weakening activist. It is the latest twist to the surreal tale of how this Nobel Prize nominee wound up on a check-in terminal floor surrounded by sun-seeking tourists, her passport rescinded by Moroccan authorities.

US Calls for Dialogue between a free Suu Kyi and Burma Junta:
The Obama Administration said that it is hopeful recent developments in Burma would lead to dialogue between the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese military junta.
“We are aware of this letter that she [Suu Kyi] has written to the senior general, and we hope that this will be the beginning of a dialogue that will lead to her release,” the State Department spokesman, Ian Kelly, told reporters at a daily news briefing on Thursday in Washington, DC.
The detained Burmese opposition leader wrote that she is ready to cooperate with Burma’s ruling junta in discussions on how to end the economic sanctions applied against the country by the US, the European Union and other countries.
Suu Kyi’s letter to junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe was released by her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), on Tuesday. She had been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years.
The release of Suu Kyi along with other political prisoners and a dialogue between the military junta and opposition leaders is the top priority of the Obama administration, Kelly said.
After months of review, the Obama administration in September announced a new policy on Burma which includes dialogue and economic sanctions. Since then there have been two rounds of US-Burma talks.
US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have both called for a resumption of dialogue, the release of Suu Kyi and the restoration of democracy in the country.
“We have started a new, very focused dialogue with the government of Burma. This has been a dialogue that, as I say, is focused on the need for Burma to open up its political system for more debate and discussion,” Kelly said in response to a question. ...more in The Irrawaddy - Mizzima - The Guardian - CNN - BBC - MSNBC - The Telegraph - France 24

October

Obama acepts the Nobel Peace Prize as a "call to action" and remembers those who really deserve the award such as Aung San Suu Kyi:

Revealed: millions spent by lobby firms fighting Obama health reforms:
Six lobbyists for every member of Congress as healthcare industry heaps cash on politicians to water down legislation. America's healthcare industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to block the introduction of public medical insurance and stall other reforms promised by Barack Obama. The campaign against the president has been waged in part through substantial donations to key politicians.
Supporters of radical reform of healthcare say legislation emerging from the US Senate reflects the financial power of vested interests principally insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms and hospitals that have worked to stop far-reaching changes threatening their profits.
The industry and interest groups have spent $380m (£238m) in recent months influencing healthcare legislation through lobbying, advertising and in direct political contributions to members of Congress. The largest contribution, totalling close to $1.5m, has gone to the chairman of the senate committee drafting the new law.
A former member of Bill Clinton's cabinet says fears that the industry could throw its money behind the populist rightwing backlash against public insurance have scared the Obama White House into pulling back from the most significant reforms in return for healthcare companies not trying to scupper the entire legislation.
Drug and insurance companies say they are merely seeking to educate politicians and the public. But with industry lobbyists swarming over Capitol Hill there are six registered healthcare lobbyists for every member of Congress a partner in the most powerful lobbying firm in Washington acknowledged that healthcare firms' money "has had a lot of influence" and that it is "morally suspect".
Reform groups say vast spending, and the threat of a lot more being poured into advertisements against the administration, has helped drug companies ensure there will be no cap on the prices they charge for medicines one of the ways the White House had hoped to keep down surging healthcare costs. Insurance companies have done even better as the new legislation will prove a business bonanza. It is not only likely to kill off the threat of public health insurance, which threatened to siphon off customers by offering lower premiums and better coverage, but will force millions more people to take out private medical policies or face prosecution.
"It's a total victory for the health insurance industry," said Dr Steffie Woolhander, a GP, professor of medicine at Harvard University and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Programme (PNHP).
"What the bill has done is use the coercive power of the state to force people to hand their money over to a private entity which is the private insurance industry. That is not what people were promised." ...more in The Guardian

The basic human right to Health Care in the USA by President Barack Obama

August / Agosto

North Korea dictatorship frees 2 US journalists: Announcement of pardon comes after Bill Clinton meets with dictator Kim Jong Il. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has pardoned two jailed American journalists and ordered their release following an unannounced meeting with former President Bill Clinton, the North's state media said Wednesday.
Clinton, who arrived in North Korea Tuesday on an unannounced visit, met with the reclusive and ailing Kim for talks described by Pyongyang as "exhaustive." It was Kim's first meeting with a prominent Western figure since his reported stroke nearly a year ago.
The release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were arrested March 17 near the China-North Korea border, was a sign of North Korea's "humanitarian and peace-loving policy," the Korean Central News Agency reported.

G8 urges release of Aung San Suu Kyi: The world’s major industrial countries, known as the G8, has called for the immediate release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi saying her continued detention would undermine the credibility of the junta’s proposed general elections in 2010.
Members of the G8 - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and United States – in a joint statement from its summit in Italy said they welcomed the UN Secretary General’s visit to Burma.
But the group in a statement reiterated their “call on the Government of Myanmar [Burma] to release all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose continued detention would undermine the credibility of elections planned for 2010.”
The statement said the group also shares the World Body Chief’s view that the Burmese Government has lost an important opportunity to respond to the concerns of the international community by refusing Ban Ki-moon a meeting with detained Burmese Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
The group urged that the Burmese junta implement a fully inclusive process of dialogue and national reconciliation, which will lead to transparent, fair and democratic multiparty elections in 2010.
But the group pledged that they “remain prepared to respond positively to substantive political progress undertaken by Myanmar [Burma].”
The G8 statement was immediately welcomed by a campaign group, the Burma Campaign UK, saying the statement has brought the issue of Burma’s political prisoners high up on the international agenda.
“It is particularly good to have Russia saying these things, as they strongly defend the dictatorship. However, words must be turned into action. We’d like to see the G8 supporting a global arms embargo on Burma,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK, in a statement on Friday. ..more in Mizzima

Sadness over the world as the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi resumes: Along the shores of artificial Inya Lake, the empty compound of Aung San Suu Kyi lies within plain sight as couples stroll the path. Her home also is a curious attraction to onlookers from a hotel a minute's walk away.
But it is her absence from it that has been on people's minds lately in and around Rangoon—a hub of commerce and scholarship and the epicenter of anti-government sentiment—with the trial of the pro-democracy leader set to resume Friday. The failure of visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to gain a meeting with the opposition leader last weekend or win her release seems to have only intensified widespread feelings of gloom and frustration, though only brief interviews were possible without raising suspicions in this police state.
The trial of Suu Kyi, who turned 64 in the city's Insein Prison last month, had been postponed during the UN chief's visit.
There had been some hope that intervention by the international community might have avoided the continuation of the Nobel Prize laureate's trial. She faces trumped-up charges that resulted from a bizarre incident involving an American who swam to her home across the artificial lake, a popular place for leisurely walks and sailing.
"I will never see real democracy flourish in Myanmar [Burma]. Not in my lifetime. We live in a hopeless situation where even the UN secretary-general fails to nudge the stubborn regime," said U Hla Shwe, a 72-year old retired lawyer. ...more in The Irrawaddy - Mizzima - The Guardian - France 24 - Le Figaro

The stupid secretary of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, under fire for praising Burma dictatorship: The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, faced a barrage of criticism tonight for apparently praising the Burmese junta without winning any concessions over human rights or a move towards democracy.
Ban was under pressure to produce concrete results from his two-day mission to Burma, which was criticised as providing an endorsement to the Burmese leadership just as it is staging a trial of the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
The high-stakes visit to Burma comes at a critical time for Ban, whose low-key approach to his job has been criticised as ineffectual. He came under further fire on arrival in Naypyidaw, the regime's headquarters, when he told the head of the junta, General Than Shwe: "I appreciate your commitment to moving your country forward."
"That is absolute nonsense," said Brad Adams, a Burma specialist at Human Rights Watch. "It's just what we implored him not to say, to make these diplomatic gaffes. Than Shwe has steadily moved his country backwards."
British officials were also furious at the remarks. They had urged Ban not to visit Burma, and risk handing the junta a propaganda prize with his visit, without first ensuring he would gain concessions in the form of the release of political prisoners and steps towards genuine democracy.
"Only agreement to release all political prisoners [and] start a genuine dialogue with the opposition and ethnic groups will give any credibility to the elections in 2010," Gordon Brown said in an article in the US online magazine The Huffington Post. According to No 10, Brown calls Ban at least twice a week to discuss Burma. ... more in The Guardian

UN Secretary visits Burma to urge dictatorship to free elected president Aung San Suu Kyi:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon assured reporters on Tuesday during a Tokyo stopover on his way to Burma that he will urge the Burmese military junta to release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, when he visits the country this week.
Speaking after talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone, he said he was aware of concerns about his July 3-4 visit coinciding with the trial of Suu Kyi, the main opposition leader, who has been under house arrest for a total of more than 13 years.
The UN Information Center in Rangoon said on Wednesday that it could not provide any details about Ban Ki-moon’s Burma schedule.
Suu Kyi, 64, is on trial in Rangoon on a charge of breaking the terms of her house arrest.
“It may be the case that the trial may happen during my visit in [Burma]. I am very much conscious of that. At the same time, to find the most appropriate timing has been a challenge for me, too,” Ban told reporters.
"I try to use this visit as an opportunity to raise in the strongest possible terms and convey the concerns of the international community of the United Nations to the highest authorities of the [Burmese] government," he added.
“We have received no notification yet from the Burmese authorities regarding a meeting with Ban Ki-moon.” said Ohn Kyaing, a member of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
Ban said he would press the Burmese government to carry out a range of political reforms.
"I consider that three of the most important issues for [Burma] cannot be left unaddressed at this juncture," Ban told reporters. “The first [is the] release of all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi."
“This is the commitment and concerns and aspiration of the international community. I am going to convey this strongly to Snr-Gen Than Shwe and other leaders,” he said. ...more in The Irrawaddy - Mizzima - Democratic Voice of Burma - The Guardian - BBC - The Independent - The Telegraph - France 24 - The Times - CNN - Le Figaro - Le Monde - Al Jazeera

NOTICIAS / NEWS

2009

While celebrations of the 64th birthday of Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi were freely held around the world on Friday, her supporters in Burma celebrated her birthday under the junta’s tight repression.
National League for Democracy (NLD) sources said supporters held a religious ceremony to mark her birthday early Friday morning at party headquarters. However, authorities harassed one monastery not to send monks to perform the ceremony. About five hundred people including journalists attended the birthday ceremony at NLD headquarters in Rangoon.
“First we invited five monks from the well-known Maha Si Monastery. However, authorities prevented those monks from coming,” a NLD source told The Irrawaddy.
“So we invited monks from other monasteries,” he said. “But only four monks dared to come to our office. We held the Buddhist ceremony for her birthday with four monks.”
In the Buddhist tradition, at least five monks should be present to conduct a religious ceremony. ...more in The Irrawaddy - BBC - France 24 - The Telegraph - El País - MSNBC - Le Figaro - Mizzima - Democratic Voice of Burma / Also in the web of the National League for Democracy in exileIn Malaysia the police arrested all burmanese refugees which gathered to conmemorate Aung San Suu Kyi birthday ....more in You Tube

Iran's day of destiny:
Robert Fisk witnesses the courage of one million protesters who ignored threats, guns and bloodshed to demand freedom in Iran

It was Iran's day of destiny and day of courage. A million of its people marched from Engelob Square to Azadi Square – from the Square of Revolution to the Square of Freedom – beneath the eyes of Tehran's brutal riot police. The crowds were singing and shouting and laughing and abusing their "President" as "dust".
Mirhossein Mousavi was among them, riding atop a car amid the exhaust smoke and heat, unsmiling, stunned, unaware that so epic a demonstration could blossom amid the hopelessness of Iran's post-election bloodshed. He may have officially lost last Friday's election, but yesterday was his electoral victory parade through the streets of his capital. It ended, inevitably, in gunfire and blood.
Not since the 1979 Iranian Revolution have massed protesters gathered in such numbers, or with such overwhelming popularity, through the boulevards of this torrid, despairing city. They jostled and pushed and crowded through narrow lanes to reach the main highway and then found riot police in steel helmets and batons lined on each side. The people ignored them all. And the cops, horribly outnumbered by these tens of thousands, smiled sheepishly and – to our astonishment – nodded their heads towards the men and women demanding freedom. Who would have believed the government had banned this march?
The protesters' bravery was all the more staggering because many had already learned of the savage killing of five Iranians on the campus of Tehran University, done to death – according to students – by pistol-firing Basiji militiamen. When I reached the gates of the college yesterday morning, many students were weeping behind the iron fence of the campus, shouting "massacre" and throwing a black cloth across the mesh. That was when the riot police returned and charged into the university grounds once more.
Walking beside this vast flood of humanity, a strange fearlessness possessed us all. Who would dare attack them now? What government could deny a people of this size and determination? Dangerous questions.
By dusk, the Basiji were being chased by hundreds of protesters in the west of the city but shooting was crackling around the suburbs after dark. Those who were fatally too late in leaving Azadi, were fired on by the Basiji. One dead, thousands in panic, we heard behind us.
...read the full Robert Fisk article in The Independent - more information in MSNBC - The Telegraph
- El Mundo - France 24 - La Repubblica

Frustration in Iran as the reformist Mousavi claims victory but the Supreme Leader gives the "victory" to hardliner Ahmadinejad while repressing opposition and communications, a tiranic choice to please Israel´s government and the totalitarian Hugo Chavez:

Iran faced turmoil last night as the hardline President and his centrist challenger both claimed victory in a bitterly contested election.
The offical news agency reported that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won, and the state elections chief said that the President had 69 per cent of the vote with 35 per cent of the ballots counted. However, the main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, insisted that he was the “definite winner” by a substantial margin, and an aide suggested that he had taken 65 per cent.
The official result will be announced today, but the huge turnout - close to the historic record of 80 per cent - appeared to favour Mr Mousavi’s claim. Urban, middle-class Iranians, who seldom bother to vote, did so yesterday because they thought Mr Ahmadinejad’s first four years in office a disaster.
It was widely alleged, but never proved, that vote-rigging secured Mr Ahmadinejad’s unlikely victory in 2005. He entered that election an unknown, but was backed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader...

Burma's National League for Democracy sets election demands to ruling dictatorship:
Burma's largest opposition party says it will consider taking part in planned elections if the military government meets a series of demands.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) set out its conditions for taking part after a two-day meeting in Rangoon.
In a statement, it urged the release of all political prisoners, including its leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
It also called for changes to the constitution and for international observers to monitor the poll.
The NLD has made similar demands in the past. So far they have not been met.
But analysts say the statement is still a departure from the NLD's previous calls for the government to honour the results of Burma's last general election in 1990.
The NLD won that poll by a landslide but the results were ignored by Burma's ruling generals. The party held a national meeting in Rangoon to discuss its stance on the general election scheduled for 2010.
But the NLD chairman, Aung Shwe, said the party would wait to see new election rules drawn up by the ruling military before making a final decision on whether or not to participate.
The ruling junta has said it will hold elections under a revised constitution.
But the NLD says the junta's constitution is fundamentally flawed. ... more in the BBC - The Irrawaddy - Also read the letter by Aung San Suu Kyi to the judges in her new trial by the dictatorship ... more in Mizzima

May / Mayo

Suu Kyi needs urgent medical care:
The National League for Democracy is 'gravely concerned' over Burma [Myanmar] pro-democracy leader's health. The elected president of Burma Aung San Suu Kyi urgently needs medical attention in the prison where she is being held by the dictatorship during her new trial, her party said Friday.
A party statement said it was "gravely concerned" about the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's health, saying she cannot sleep well because she suffers from leg cramps.
Suu Kyi, 63, was treated for dehydration and low blood pressure in early May, a few days after an American intruder was arrested for sneaking into her home. The military government has accused her of violating the terms of her house arrest for harboring the American, and if found guilty she could spend up to five years in prison. ...Aung San Suu Kyi, who turns 64 next month, was transferred from her home to Yangon's Insein Central Prison on May 14 to face charges of violating her house arrest after a US man had swum to her home 10 days earlier and stayed there for two days.
She had been treated for low blood pressure and dehydration, days earlier.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent more that 13 of the past 19 years in some form of detention and activists fear for her health if she is convicted.
Nyan Win, one of Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyers, said the court had decided to delay final arguments in the case until June 5. ...more in MSNBC- The Irrawaddy - Mizzima - France 24 - BBC - Al Jazeera - El País

The elected president of Burma, Dr. Suu Kyi, accuses dictatorship's tribunal of bias:
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has issued a statement denying that she broke the terms of her house detention order and saying she gave John William Yettaw temporary shelter because she didn’t want to be responsible for his arrest.
In the statement, released on Wednesday by her National League for Democracy, Suu Kyi said: "I gave a temporary shelter as requested because I don’t push any one to be arrested and detained according to my political belief."
She added in her statement: "It is not important for me whoever the intruder is and what his aim is. I just did according to my political belief."
Accusing the authorities of bias against her, Suu Kyi, who has been held under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years, questioned why legal action was not being taken against security officials guarding her home.
"This incident occurred because of a security breach (by authorities). However, until now no action has been taken on security," Suu Kyi said in her statement. "The fact that I am the only party being prosecuted shows the partiality of the prosecution."
Suu Kyi also rejected testimony by a prosecution witness accusing her of violating terms of her house arrest order barring contact with outsiders.
She pointed out the 1974 state constitution containing the prohibition order lost its legality after the present Burmese military government took power in 1988.
Suu Kyi also said she had never been warned that she should report any outside intrusion to the authorities. She also rejected a statement by a prosecution witness claiming that she and the authorities were together responsible for the security of her home. “That statement is totally wrong,” she said in her statement.
Suu Kyi said she told Yettaw to leave when the American arrived at her lakeside home on the morning of May 4. Yettaw told her that he would be arrested if he left during the day and asked if he could stay temporarily, promising to depart under cover of night.
But Yettaw did not leave as promised, pleading poor health, and asked to stay one more night.
Suu Kyi said Yettaw had made an unauthorized visit to her home in November 2008, and she had asked her doctor, Tin Myo Win, to report it to the authorities. No action had then been taken, she said. ...more in The Irrawaddy - Mizzima - Democratic Voice of Burma - The Telegraph - MSNBC - France 24 - Le Monde - El País - The Guardian - The Independent - CNN - The Washington Post - Al Jazeera - SKY News - BBC - Please sign the petition to demand strongest action from UN to Free Burma Political Prisoners NOW!

Obama, the ASEAN and the European Union foreign ministers demand the dictator of Burma to free the elected president Dr Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners:
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday called on the Burmese military government to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi unconditionally.
“It is time for the Burmese government to drop all charges against Aung San Suu Kyi and unconditionally release her and her fellow political prisoners,” Obama said, adding that by her actions, “Aung San Suu Kyi has represented profound patriotism, sacrifice and the vision of a democratic and prosperous Burma.”
“Such an action would be an affirmative and significant step on Burma’s part to begin to restore its standing in the eyes of the United States and the world community and to move toward a better future for its people,” Obama said in a statement issued by the White House.
...Asian and European Union foreign ministers concluded a two-day meeting in Hanoi on Tuesday with a statement calling on Burma’s junta to release detained political prisoners, as international pressure mounts on the regime over its trial and detention of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
“In light of the concern about the recent developments relating to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, ministers ... called for the early release of those under detention and the lifting of restrictions placed on political parties,” said the chair’s statement issued at the end of the annual Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) of foreign ministers from the two regions.
Asem groups the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) with the EU, China, South Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Pakistan and India. Burma is a member of Asean. ...more in The Irrawaddy - Mizzima - Al Jazeera - The Telegraph - CNN - France 24 /
Please
visit the web Free Burma Political Prisoners Now and sign the petition for strong action on Burma to the United Nations

Aung San Suu Kyi’s explains that she is innocent of the intruder let in her house-prison by the dictatorship:
On Tuesday afternoon, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi gave her testimony to the special court in Insein prison. Below is a summary:
Aung San Suu Kyi testified that she had lived with party members Daw Khin Khin Win and Win Ma Ma and gave a brief explanation of her house arrest. She testified on how she came to know that the American citizen John William Yettaw had arrived at her residence and that because of his pleading had agreed to allow him to stay for a while and that she also spoke to him.
But she said she does not know whether Mr. Yettaw had deliberately left some materials at her home, and that she had thought that Yettaw had left the house by May 5, between 11:45 p.m. and mid-night (local time).
She said she saw Yettaw heading towards the lake but since it was dark she could not see where he had gone.
Moreover she also said that she had not seen any security guards inside her compound when Yettaw arrived and when he left the house. She said, that she was not aware of Yettaw taking pictures of her house. This she only came to know in court. ...more in Mizzima - The Irrawaddy - The Telegraph - Democratic Voice of Burma - France 24 - El Mundo - Al Jazeera - The Times - CNN - Le Figaro - Le Monde - BBC - MSNBC

In the latest in a long list of international honors, Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been named the recipient of this year’s Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation, which will be awarded at a ceremony to be held in Durban, South Africa on July 20.
The prize, also known as the MAGI Award, is given to those who inspire young people to make a commitment to non-violence, forgiveness and reconciliation. It was inaugurated in 2003 to mark the centenary of Indian Opinion, a newspaper published in South Africa by Mahatma Gandhi.
The award is given by South Africa’s Gandhi Development Trust, which was established in August 2002 with the aim of promoting a deeper understanding of the principles of democracy, nonviolence and human values.
Suu Kyi, who is currently facing charges of violating the conditions of her house arrest just weeks before her detention was due to end, has received more that 80 international awards, including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize and India’s Jawaharlal Nehru Award.
In a statement released today, South Africa’s foreign minister expressed grave concern over Suu Kyi’s trial, which stems from an incident involving an intruder who allegedly stayed overnight at her home.
“The South African government calls on the authorities in Myanmar to release Ms Suu Kyi immediately,” read the statement. ...more in The Irrawaddy - Mizzima - Democracy for Burma

Burma dictatorship forbids again diplomats and journalists from president elected Suu Kyi's new trial:
Journalists and diplomats were barred from attending the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday, one day after it granted permission for journalists and diplomats to attend the trial, according to diplomats in Rangoon.
The Burmese government allowed 10 journalist and dozens of diplomats inside the courtroom for the first time on Wednesday. According to TV footage from the regime's media, a smiling, healthy looking Suu Kyi entered the courtroom wearing a salmon colored Burmese jacket and maroon sarong. She greeted envoys from Thailand, Singapore and Russia. Authorities allowed one diplomat from each of the 30 foreign embassies in Rangoon to attend the trial.
According to a press statement from the Singapore foreign ministry, Suu Kyi told the diplomats that she and her two housekeepers are healthy and being treated well by the authorities.
"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi also informed the three diplomatic representatives that there could be many opportunities for national reconciliation if all parties so wished, and that she did not wish to use the intrusion into her home as a way to get at the Myanmar authorities.""She also expressed the view that it was not too late for something good to come out of this unfortunate incident.
As dean and on behalf of the diplomatic corps, [Singapore] Ambassador Chua expressed the hope that there would be peaceful national reconciliation and that representatives of the diplomatic corps would be able to meet both Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar leaders regularly."
Suu Kyi thanked diplomats for coming to the trial on Wednesday and said she hoped to meet them again in "better days."
However, diplomats said they assume the special court in Rangoon's Insein Prison will find Suu Kyi guilty finally.
"The access we had today was welcome, but doesn't change the fundamental reality," British Ambassador Mark Canning told the British Broadcasting Corp., referring to the belief that Suu Kyi is being unfairly held and tried. "All the paraphernalia of the courtroom was there, the judges, the prosecution, the defense. But I think this is a story where the conclusion is already scripted."
It is unknown if the junta will reopen the court proceedings in coming days. Thursday is the fourth day of the trial.
Meanwhile Suu Kyi's lawyer said that Burma's military regime appeared to be rushing through the trial. "Now it is very clear that they are trying to speed up the trial," he told reporters on Tuesday at party headquarters. "If it goes on at this rate, it could even be over by next week." ...more in The Irrawaddy - Mizzima - BBC - Le Figaro -

Diplomats from foreign embassies will be allowed to meet Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently detained in the notorious Insein prison and facing trial, on the afternoon of Wednesday, diplomatic sources in Rangoon said. Along with the diplomats, Rangoon-based foreign correspondents will also be allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi.
...In a heartfelt letter, seen by The Independent, the UK Prime Minister makes clear that he regards Ms Suu Kyi as the rightful leader of her country, referring to the Burmese as "your people". "We should not rest until you are able to play your rightful role in a free and secure Burma," he wrote, adding: "I want you to know: you are not alone."
...Mr Brown's open letter includes a pledge to fight her cause and encourage Burma's Asian neighbours "to work even harder for your release and that of all political prisoners in Burma". He has long admired Ms Suu Kyi, 63, who was first placed under house arrest 20 years ago. In 2007, he dedicated a chapter of his book on courage to her, comparing her fight to bring democracy to Burma to that of Nelson Mandela's struggle in South Africa.
"People are standing with you, not just here in Britain but everywhere that democracy and freedom are upheld," he writes. "We are heartened by your tremendous courage, your inspirational leadership, and by the knowledge that no oppression is so great that the forces of liberty cannot prevail."
Ms Suu Kyi went on trial in Rangoon yesterday following last week's incident. The British ambassador was denied access to the proceedings, which are being held behind closed doors. ...It is not the first time he has used an open letter to express solidarity with Ms Suu Kyi. He and the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, wrote a similar message on her birthday last summer, saying her release from house arrest was "essential". However, his latest reprimand to the Burmese junta goes much further.
He states: "The people of Burma have suffered nearly half a century of conflict and isolation, it is time to embrace a new beginning. So I say to the generals who imprison you: the time for a transition to democracy is now. By excluding you from that future, by silencing and imprisoning you, they condemn your country to further decades of poverty and exclusion."
Ms Suu Kyi's supporters in Britain were delighted with the Prime Minister's intervention, but said his words must lead to concrete action against the junta. Mark Farmaner, director of the Burma Campaign UK, said: "We want to see him now pick up the phone to world leaders, as he has done in the past, to push for further sanctions and visa restrictions against the regime that has imprisoned her for so long."
...more in Mizzima - The Irrawaddy - BBC - The Independent - The Times - The Telegraph - France 24 - Bangkok Post - MSNBC - El Mundo - El País

Let's free Suu Kyi, let's free Burma:
The United Nations envoy to Burma has said that the international community, including the UN, should step up pressure on the regime to ensure unwarranted charges against Aung San Suu Kyi are dropped.
Suu Kyi’s second day of court hearings began at around 10am this morning. She faces charges of breaching her house arrest after US citizen John Yettaw swam to her lakeside home earlier this month.
The UN human rights envoy to Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said however that the charges are unsubstantiated.
“The message to the government is first that this new file has to be dismissed immediately, because there are no grounds at all,” he said.
“She cannot be accused of any crime at all.”
Quintana reiterated a comment he made last week that the breach of security achieved by Yettaw is a fault of the government, and not Suu Kyi or her caretakers, who are also on trial for the incident.
“The responsibility regarding the security and the conditions of the her house arrest lie in the government,” he said.
“She was under government custody, therefore the government is responsible for the security conditions.
“That’s very important because her case under these circumstances requires all the attention from all of the world.”
Similarly, the now exiled former Burmese ambassador to the United States implied that Yettaw’s breach could have been allowed by security in order to give the government an excuse to continue her detention, which was due to expire on 27 May.
“There are about 250 security personnel around Daw Suu’s house, including three outposts guarding the neighbourhood, the road at the front and Inya lake,” said Aung Linn Htut.
“It is no way possible for someone to infiltrate such heavy security.”
Quintana called upon international leaders to increase their demands for her release in light of the spiraling humanitarian situation there.
“It is very clear for me that these new circumstances against Suu Kyi are a message that the human rights situation is getting worse in the country,” he said.
“I am calling all the members of the United Nations Human Rights Council to raise their voices in favor of her release.”
Embedded video from CNN Video
...more in Democratic Voice of Burma - Mizzima - The Irrawaddy - The Telegraph - BBC - France 24 - El País - The Burma Campaign UK - DemocracyNow.org - Mizzima- ChristianSolidarityWorldwide.org.uk - Actions Birmanie - CNN

The psychopath dictator of Burma blocks all roads to Insein prison ahead of pro-democracy leader's trial and cut internet connections, nevertheless hundreds of citizens gather as Suu Kyi new trial starsts:
An European diplomat, who along with Ambassadors from the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France and Australia tried to enter Insein prison, told Mizzima that they wanted to show support and solidarity for Aung San Suu Kyi but were barred from entering.
“I wanted to show my support to Aung San Suu Kyi and her lawyers and the ambassadors wanted to do so as well. I don’t think they would have allowed us inside the prison but we wanted to be outside the prison,” the diplomat, who wished not to be named, told Mizzima.
The diplomat said, “The general feeling is that we are disturbed about what is happening and what the consequences of the trial might be,” the diplomat said. ... Despite military blockade, hundreds of people, including members of Burma’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) gathered outside Rangoon’s Insein Prison on Monday morning as the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi got under way in a special court.
Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Kyi Win, said he planned to ask for the trial to be held in public. Suu Kyi is also being represented by lawyers Khin Htay Kywe and Nyan Win.
Kyi Win said 22 prosecution witnesses, including police officers, would be called. He said Suu Kyi’s family doctor, Tin Myo Win, who was arrested by Burmese authorities the day after the discovery that an American intruder had entered her house, would not be called to give evidence. ...more in Mizzima - The Irrawaddy - Democratic Voice of Burma
- BBC - France 24 - The Times - The Telegraph - El País - El Mundo - MSNBC - The Independent - CNN - Le Figaro -

International outcry over jailing of Aung San Suu Kyi and of her lawyers dismissal by Burma dictator:
Two of Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers, Aung Thein and Khin Maung Shein, were dismissed from the country’s bar by the Burmese military on Friday.
“Township magistrate officer U Aung Soe and some local authorities came and gave an order in which we are dismissed from the Burmese lawyer’s list,” Aung Thein told The Irrawaddy on Saturday. Attorney Aung Thein confirmed on Saturday that he had been dismissed on Friday, a day after he had applied to represent Suu Kyi in her latest trial, which is set to begin on Monday.
Aung Thein has defended political activists in the past and was recently jailed for four months for contempt of court because of his strong advocacy on his clients’ behalf.
“The dismissal is not fair to us,” Aung Thein said. “We have served four months (in detention for contempt to the court).”
In November, Aung Thein and his close associate Khin Maung Shein were both sentenced to four months imprisonment for contempt of court. The authorities were prejudiced against lawyers who have defended political activists, said Aung Thein.

Burma's dictatorship fabricates new charges to keep under arrest the elected president Aung San Suu Kyi / La dictadura de Myanmar fabrica nueva acusación contra la presidenta electa Aung San Suu Kyi:
Critics have denounced the trial at Insein prison in Yangon, the former capital, where Aung San Suu Kyi and two women who live with her were taken by police on Thursday.
The say such a trial could be used to justify another extension of her home detention which officially expires on May 27.
Zin Linn, the director of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, a pro-democracy group that supports Aung San Suu Kyi, told Al Jazeera there was an "ulterior" motive to the trial.
News Asia-Pacific
Myanmar military charges Suu Kyi
The Nobel laureate has been detained for more than 13 of the last 20 years [AFP]
Myanmar's military government has charged Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's opposition leader, with violating the terms of her house arrest after an American allegedly sneaked into her home, her lawyer says.
Kyi Win, the lawyer, said the Nobel Peace laureate's trial would start on May 18, adding that she could be jailed for up to five years.
Critics have denounced the trial at Insein prison in Yangon, the former capital, where Aung San Suu Kyi and two women who live with her were taken by police on Thursday.
The say such a trial could be used to justify another extension of her home detention which officially expires on May 27.
Zin Linn, the director of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, a pro-democracy group that supports Aung San Suu Kyi, told Al Jazeera there was an "ulterior" motive to the trial.
'Cunning' plan
"They are finding fault with her to extend her detention because they didn't allow her to participate in the election, that is their main intention," he said, calling the military's move "very cunning and crooked".
"She was under house arrest. Any security measure was taken by the authorities, so whoever [enters] into the compound of a resident, the responsibility is upon the authorities, not upon her," he added.
The military government has in the past found various reasons to extend her periods of house arrest, which has been condemned internationally.
The 63-year-old has been detained without trial for more than 13 of the last 20 years, with the military refusing to recognise her National League for Democracy's (NLD) landslide victory in the country's last elections in 1990. ...more in Al Jazeera - The Times - The Guardian - El País - BBC - Washington Post- Mizzima - Democratic Voice of Burma - The Irrawaddy - El Mundo - France 24 - The National Coalition Government of Burma - MSNBC

Nobel Peace laurate Aung San Suu Kyi and elected president of Burma [Myanmar] needs medical care but the dictatorship ruling her country does not allow it: Burma’s detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday received emergency medical attention for an undisclosed illness by her doctor’s assistant, her party official said.

Nyan Win, spokesperson of the National League for Democracy, on Monday told Mizzima that party leader and Noble Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was revisited in an emergency by Pyone Moe Ei, assistant to Dr. Tin Myo Win.
“Pyone Moe Ei was allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi now [on Monday] in an emergency,” Nyan Win said.
Nyan Win said, party leader Aung San Suu Kyi was suffering from dehydration, low blood pressure and, “She is not well and not healthy now. It seems she really needs to be taken good care of.”
Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been kept under house arrest for more than 12 of the past 19 years, was allowed to meet her family doctor Tin Myo Win every first Thursday of each month, for a regular medical check-up.
But on Thursday, May 7, Dr. Tin Myo Win was not allowed to meet her though he had waited for over three hours. He was later taken by the police for interrogation from his residence after he came back from Aung San Suu Kyi’s house, family members said.
On Friday, authorities instead summoned Pyone Moe Ei, and took her to Aung San Suu Kyi. The assistant reportedly put the opposition leader on intravenous drip.
“No one informed us, we don’t know where he [Tin Myo Win] is and why he was detained We are now preparing to find out,” a relative of Tin Myo Win told Mizzima on Monday.
The family member said, on Friday, May 8, a man, not in uniform, came to their house and asked for some of the doctor’s clothes.
“But he did not say anything,” said the relative.
Tin Myo Win and Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer Kyi Win are the only two people who are allowed to meet the detained Burmese democracy icon, besides her two party members – mother and daughter – who live with her and take care of her.
But on Wednesday last week, Burma’s official mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar, reported that an American citizen was caught while swimming back across the Innya Lake from Aung San Suu Kyi’s home, where he had stayed for two nights.
Identified as John William Yettaw by the newspaper, he reportedly swam across the Innya Lake and entered Aung San Suu Kyi’s house on May 3, and stayed till May 5.
The paper said authorities are still conducting investigations. The swimmer was arrested on early morning of May 6.
The US embassy in Rangoon said, they have forwarded request to the Burmese authorities to allow a meeting with the swimmer but has not received any response as yet.
...more in Mizzima - MSNBC -
France 24 -
The Independent - The Washington Post -
El Mundo
- Irrawaddy
- El País - The Telegraph

April / abril

Like King Oedipus, [like most men] Bush junior calls for a full investigation and punishment of anyone who commits [war] crimes ...except himself:

Protest groups representing a range of causes are staging demonstrations to coincide with the G20 summit. Here is our guide to what the major players have planned. G20 Meltdown
A new organisation, formed with the express purpose of organising a carnival party at the Bank of England on April 1.
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will lead themed processions into the City from gathering points at Moorgate, Liverpool Street, London Bridge and Cannon Street stations. Live music and street theatre expected, but there are fears that more radical elements will hijack the marches and provoke confrontations with police.
Camp For Climate Action
A national network of climate activists who aim to take direct action against the root causes of climate change.
Activists plan a 24-hour "flashcamp" outside the European Climate Exchange on Bishopsgate in Liverpool Street, expecting thousands of people to converge at 12.30pm. Alternative locations for the camp have been scoped out if access to Bishopsgate is blocked.
Campaign Against Climate Change
A national campaign group which has organised an annual march at the time of the United Nations Climate Talks for the past few years.
Supporters will stage a "climate emergency iceberg demo" outside the ExCeL centre where the summit is being held on the afternoon of April 1, followed by an evening rally.
People and Planet
A student network campaigning to end world poverty, defend human rights and protect the environment.
They are encouraging their members to organise protests against the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) on April 1, which will likely focus on the bank's City offices, also on Bishopsgate.
Stop The War Coalition and CND
The anti-war groups are organising a rally at the US embassy in London's Grosvenor Square at 2pm, moving through the West End to finish at Trafalgar Square in the early evening.
Youth Fight for Jobs
A campaign highlighting the lack of jobs for young people. A March for Jobs, in the tradition of the Jarrow Marchers, will be held on April 2, starting from Camberwell Green and passing through some of the poorest boroughs in London before ending up at the ExCeL centre.
...more in The Telegraph - The Times - The Guardian - The Independent - And in the webs of the NGO named aboved [click on their names to visit websites]

March / Marzo

Earth population 'exceeds limits': There are already too many people living on Planet Earth, according to one of most influential science advisors in the US government.
Nina Fedoroff told the BBC One Planet programme that humans had exceeded the Earth's "limits of sustainability".
Dr Fedoroff has been the science and technology advisor to the US secretary of state since 2007, initially working with Condoleezza Rice.
Under the new Obama administration, she now advises Hillary Clinton.
"We need to continue to decrease the growth rate of the global population; the planet can't support many more people," Dr Fedoroff said, stressing the need for humans to become much better at managing "wild lands", and in particular water supplies.
Pressed on whether she thought the world population was simply too high, Dr Fedoroff replied: "There are probably already too many people on the planet."
GM Foods 'needed'
A National Medal of Science laureate (America's highest science award), the professor of molecular biology believes part of that better land management must include the use of genetically modified foods.
"We have six-and-a-half-billion people on the planet, going rapidly towards seven.
"We're going to need a lot of inventiveness about how we use water and grow crops," she told the BBC. v...more in the BBC - And in the web of Optimum Population Trust

President Obama chairs an Oecumenic breakfast with citizens from all over the world in Washington:

'...There is no doubt that the very nature of faith means that some of our beliefs will never be the same. We read from different texts. We follow different edicts. We subscribe to different accounts of how we came to be here and where we’re going next – and some subscribe to no faith at all.
But no matter what we choose to believe, let us remember that there is no religion whose central tenet is hate. There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.
We know too that whatever our differences, there is one law that binds all great religions together. Jesus told us to "love thy neighbor as thyself." The Torah commands, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow." In Islam, there is a hadith that reads "None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." And the same is true for Buddhists and Hindus; for followers of Confucius and for humanists. It is, of course, the Golden Rule – the call to love one another; to understand one another; to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.
It is an ancient rule; a simple rule; but also one of the most challenging. For it asks each of us to take some measure of responsibility for the well-being of people we may not know or worship with or agree with on every issue. Sometimes, it asks us to reconcile with bitter enemies or resolve ancient hatreds. And that requires a living, breathing, active faith. It requires us not only to believe, but to do – to give something of ourselves for the benefit of others and the betterment of our world...' ...watch Obama speach by clicking the screen and read his full intervention in The White House web

'Gaza and the New Year [2009]'
byDaniel Barenboim
I have just three wishes for the coming year. The first is for the Israeli government to realize once and for all that the Middle Eastern conflict cannot be solved by military means. The second is for Hamas to realize that its interests are not served by violence, and that Israel is here to stay; and the third is for the world to acknowledge the fact that this conflict is unlike any other in history. It is uniquely intricate and sensitive; it is a human conflict between two peoples who are both deeply convinced of their right to live on the same very small piece of land. This is why neither diplomacy nor military action can resolve this conflict.
The developments of the past few days are extremely worrisome to me for several reasons of both humane and political natures. While it is self-evident that Israel has the right to defend itself, that it cannot and should not tolerate continuing missile attacks on its citizens, the Israeli army’s relentless and brutal bombardment of Gaza has raised a few important questions in my mind.
The first question is whether the Israeli government has the right to make all Palestinians culpable for the actions of Hamas. Is the entire population of Gaza to be held responsible for the sins of a terrorist organization? We, the Jewish people, should know and feel even more acutely than other populations that the murder of innocent civilians is inhumane and unacceptable. The Israeli military has very weakly argued that the Gaza strip is so overpopulated that it is impossible to avoid civilian deaths during their operations.
The weakness of this argument leads me to my next set of questions: if civilian deaths are unavoidable, what is the purpose of the bombardment? What, if any, is the logic behind the violence, and what does Israel hope to achieve through it? If the aim of the operation is to destroy Hamas, then the most important question to ask is whether this is an attainable goal. If not, then the whole attack is not only cruel, barbaric, and reprehensible, it is also senseless.
If on the other hand it really is possible to destroy Hamas through military operations, how does Israel envision the reaction in Gaza once this has been accomplished? One and a half million Gaza residents will not suddenly go down on their knees in reverence of the power of the Israeli army. We must not forget that before Hamas was elected by the Palestinians, it was encouraged by Israel as a tactic to weaken [Yasser] Arafat. Israel’s recent history leads me to believe that if Hamas is bombarded out of existence, another group will most certainly take its place, a group that would be more radical, more violent, and more full of hatred toward Israel than Hamas.
Israel cannot afford a military defeat for fear of disappearing from the map, yet history has proven that every military victory has always left Israel in a weaker political position than before because of the emergence of radical groups. I do not underestimate the difficulty of the decisions the Israeli government must make every day, nor do I underestimate the importance of Israel’s security. Nevertheless, I stand behind my conviction that the only truly viable plan for long-term security in Israel is to gain the acceptance of all of our neighbors. I wish for a return in the year 2009 of the famous intelligence always ascribed to the Jews. I wish for a return of King Solomon’s wisdom to the decision-makers in Israel that they might use it to understand that Palestinians and Israelis have equal human rights.
Palestinian violence torments Israelis and does not serve the Palestinian cause; Israeli military retaliation is inhuman, immoral, and does not guarantee Israel’s security. As I have said before, the destinies of the two peoples are inextricably linked, obliging them to live side by side. They have to decide whether they want to make of this a blessing or a curse.
Vienna -- 31 December 2008
...more in the web of Daniel Barenboim - and in The Guardian - Neturei Karta : Jews United against Zionism